


let the flames begin

by elliptical



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Angst and Humor, Body Horror, Everyone Has Issues, Fugitives, Multi, On the Run, Politics, Polyamory, Psychic Abilities, Rebellion, Telepathy, not as sad as it sounds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 10:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6075954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliptical/pseuds/elliptical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Half a sweep before conscription, Sollux Captor begins to hear his ancestor's voice.<br/>This is both very good and very, very bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> starts another multichapter fic because i can't get this premise out of my head and have no self control??  
> i vaguely know where i'm going with this but have no idea how long it's going to be. rip.
> 
>  
> 
> _what a shame we all became such fragile broken things_  
>  _a memory remains just a tiny spark_  
>  _i give it all my oxygen to let the flames begin_  
>  _so let the flames begin, oh glory_  
>  _this is how we'll dance when they try to take us down_  
>  _-let the flames begin, paramore_

You're inspecting your apiary mainframe when It begins. "It" lacks a specified definition because it's unlike anything you've experienced before. "It" also wouldn't even make your list of issues worth pursuing if the situation wasn't so damn annoying.

"Psst," a voice says.

This wouldn't be the first time someone's dropped into your hivestem unannounced. You give the voice the benefit of the doubt, because you're a powerful psion and usually ill-intentioned people don't bother getting your attention. And because "shoot first ask questions later" only tends to work for highbloods, and because you'll feel kind of bad if you murder one of your friends because you were startled.

You turn around, fully expecting Karkat to tackle you or Aradia to be grinning in your face - hello, surprise, did I scare you! - but there's no one there.

"Psst," the voice says again. It might be... above you? You glance up at the ceiling just in case, but there's no one there either. Of course.

"What the hell," you say.

Your bees buzz noncommitally. They don't seem perturbed by the intruder, which is as good a reason as any to believe you're not in danger.

"Ahahaha, holy shit, is this working? Holy fuck."

"What the hell."

"Nice place you've got here." There's something off about the voice - something detached and mechanical, something toneless that still manages to pull off dry amusement. It's a little unnerving. "Sweet electronics setup. Do you game?"

"Okay," you say. "So is an Imperial Drone hovering above my hivestem making conversation, or."

The voice laughs more quietly. "Your genes skipped over a sense of humor, I see."

"Well, I feel like standing in the middle of my living area mumbling to a disembodied voice makes me more the butt of a joke than in on it."

"Fair." The voice snickers. "I'll fuck off for now, then. I was just testing something."

You wait for a good fifteen seconds and then say, "Still here?"

No response.

Hmm. You don't want to give an obnoxious voice in your head the satisfaction of knowing you're curious, but you also don't want to give it the satisfaction of not indulging your curiosity. Usually when confronted with an unknown entity, your best bet is to learn about it rather than ignore it out of spite. This you've learned a few times the hard way.

\--twinArmageddons [TA] has begun trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]\--

TA: 2o you're a necropath, riight.  
AA: you know you don't have to start every conversation about death with "so you're a necropath right"  
AA: i think we have safely established that i am indeed so a necropath  
TA: ok 2o you can probably an2wer my que2tiion2 about dii2embodiied voiice2, riight.  
AA: hmm!  
AA: i don't know sollux i have clearly NEVER indulged your curiosity about disembodied voices  
AA: this is completely uncharted conversational territory for us  
AA: in fact you may be overstepping your bounds  
TA: ok, fuck off.  
AA: one of those nights huh  
AA: what kind of disembodied voices are we talking about?  
TA: uh.  
TA: alriight actually we're goiing two backtrack a biit here.  
TA: 2o ii am not a necropath. probably.  
TA: ii ju2t get two lii2ten two all the a22hole2 iin the proce22 of dyiing iin2tead  
TA: becau2e that'2 not a poiintle22 power at all.  
AA: yes i am aware  
TA: ii2 iit po22iible two 2pontaneou2ly develop necropathy.  
AA: well  
AA: that is a pretty broad question  
AA: i could probably give you better answers if you stopped being cagey  
TA: ii'm not actually 2ure what two a2k  
TA: liike iin thii2 ca2e ii'm not even beiing cagey on purpo2e. ii'm ju2t vaguely confu2ed, but iit would be ju2t liike me to dii2cover yet ANOTHER fucked up p2ychiic thiing about me. becau2e ii'm not fucked up enough to begiin wiith.  
AA: what happened?  
TA: uh.  
TA: actually iit'2 not even a biig deal and ii feel dumb typiing iit 2o let'2 ju2t forget about thii2 conver2atiion entiirely  
TA: what are you weariing?  
AA: wow  
TA: don't leave me hangiing here.  
AA: you know i have heard enough of your weird shit over the sweeps that i am probably not going to judge you  
TA: yeah but ii feel 2tupiid 2o.  
AA: yes but now i'm burning with curiosity!  
AA: indulge me  
TA: UGH.  
TA: iit'2 not that iintere2tiing okay.  
TA: ii ju2t had a conver2atiion wiith a dii2embodiied voiice iin my hiive2tem whiile tryiing two do maiintenance on the hiive.  
TA: there wa2 no one iin here and no one out2iide and the voiice 2ounded weiird iin a "probably not corporeal" way 2o ii wa2 ju2t wonderiing iif iit'2 po22iible 2ome gho2t latched ontwo me for 2ome godfor2aken rea2on.  
AA: hmm  
AA: that is pretty odd considering you don't usually contact the dead  
AA: but if a spirit really wanted to get through to you i believe you have the psychic sensitivity to pick up on it  
AA: what did you talk about? did they sound upset?  
TA: no. hone2tly they 2ounded liike a huge jacka22.  
AA: how long was the conversation?  
TA: liike. two miinute2.  
AA: and it's really bothering you?  
TA: ii just don't liike not knowiing what the fuck ii2 goiing on iin my pan.  
AA: i highly doubt you're crazy  
TA: any craziier than u2ual, you mean.  
AA: you're never crazy sollux  
AA: this might have been a one time fluke or the spirit might come back  
AA: usually the dead have unfinished business, and latch onto the living because of that  
AA: so if they come back you should try to figure out what the unfinished business is and help them with it  
AA: if i know you at all, you'll have a bigger problem with insensitivity than with being haunted  
AA: everything's okay  
TA: . . .  
TA: ok.  
TA: thank2 aa.

That's... reassuring enough. As long as you're not losing your mind, you figure you can put up with an obnoxious ghost. That is, assuming they come back. Maybe they won't. Maybe just this once, you can have a Weird Pan Thing be a one-off fluke and keep it from blowing up into a full fledged Issue.

That doesn't happen. You're not even surprised. Hope or no hope, it's not like luck is ever on your side.

"Kid, wake up," the voice says three nights later. You're conked the fuck out on the red side of your coon and have zero intention of getting up, so you raise an elegant middle finger to the room at large. Fuck off, ghostie.

"Up and at 'em."

"Fuck off, ghostie," you mumble, slumping over the rim of the coon. "I'll be open for conversational business in an hour."

"Yeah, but we should do this while I'm not distracted. I lose sweeps easily. Get up."

"Not a chance in the coldest pits of hell."

"Fine," the voice says. "I guess I should see if I can get the hang of possession too."

Your finger twitches. You are positive you didn't tell your finger to twitch.

"Okayokayokay fuck fine I'm getting up." You slither your way out of the coon. There's about a 99.9% chance the spirit isn't powerful enough to take over your whole body, but considering they're powerful enough to contact you from the afterlife, you're not taking any chances. 

"You win this round, asshat," you say, toweling off the slime. "What do you want."

"Go to your computer."

"Uh, excuse you? I'm taking ablutions first, at least. I've got sopor in my grubscars." You flap the edge of the towel at the empty room. "Don't follow me into the ablution block, you fucking creep."

An exasperated sigh. "Go to your computer. The telepathy thing is exhausting."

"Oh, so if I sit around long enough then you'll fuck off? What if I fight you out? What if I throw up a few mental walls?"

"Then you'd be an idiot, and a dead man besides. Go to your computer."

You go to your computer. 

With your luck, Asshole Ghost is going to possess your hands and make you delete system32, and then wheezelaugh about it. You make a mental note to ask AA about how to shoo away malevolent spirits. Will spritzing yourself with clean water do the trick? You side eye the ablution block again.

"Kid. Focus."

"What am I supposed to be focusing on," you say, which is when you realize your Trollian client is pinging a new chat.

"On that, maybe. I know you see the alert. Click the window, fuckhead."

You open the window.

\--battleshipCondescension [BC] has begun trolling twinArmageddons [TA]\--  
BC: hey kIId  
BC: lII2ten up.  
TA: what the FUCK.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sollux is a deeply rational, logical, and level headed person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **warning for helmsman related body horror at the end of this chapter.**  
>  i forgot to tag body horror when i started writing this fic but will do so now

You have never been so frightened in your entire life.

Something primal opens inside you, a scream trapped in your chest, throat too closed off to release. The energy floods your body in other ways instead, electrifying you from the tips of your horns to the ends of your toes. You are untapped adrenaline, an overdose waiting to happen - no less than three game grubs shift off your desk and plop onto the floor as you hunch over your keyboard, energy sparking red and blue in the space around you.

TA: WHAT THE FUCK  
BC: ahahaha oh my god  
BC: II can lIIterally feel you panIIckIIng would you plea2e chIIll the hell out

You have no intention of chilling the hell out. Your gaze rakes over your online contacts - about half of them active, AA and KK among them, the other half idle or busy and you need to message them and you need to get out of this hivestem and the ship is in your fucking _pan_ and you throw up the hardest mental block you can, envisioning a thick psionic shield, shimmering red and blue around the edges in your mind and a blank slate but the focus of your thoughts narrows to a single pinpoint, a single repeating mantra: _FUCK, KARKAT._

Your friends are all going to die because the Battleship Condescension is in your head.

BC: kIId  
BC: your halfa22ed plan2 to run are poIIntle22 and kIInd of hIIlarIIou2  
BC: how about you lII2ten to me IIn2tead and let me help you

You send the ship a virus that will ideally fry its neurals, scramble its systems, and buy you some time. About half a second after you do, you realize that committing high treason and attempting to destroy the Empress' flagship might not be the most reasonable course of action, but to be completely fair it's not like you're a diplomat.

\--Send failed!--  
BC: WOW, RUDE  
BC: wIIggler2 the2e nIIght2 hone2tly  
BC: 2o entIItled  
BC: when II wa2 a youngIIn we dIIdn't do thII2 cyber warfare thIIng  
BC: we 2hot at the outer hull2 of 2tar2hIIp2 and u2ed up all our energy to damage the external 2hIIeld2 wIIth no re2ult  
BC: lIIke REAL 2oldIIer2  
BC: and we walked uphIIll to get 2choolfed  
BC: both way2  
BC: IIn the 2un  
TA: what do you want  
BC: rIIght now?? to tell you more about the perIIl2 of walkIIng uphIIll to get 2choolfed both way2 IIn the 2un  
TA: what do you WANT  
BC: okay kIId. breathe.  
BC: II'm not goIIng to hurt you.  
BC: II 2wear.  
TA: WHAT DO YOU WANT  
BC: to help  
BC: hone2tly that'2 IIt, II 2wear  
BC: II would have contacted you on a le22 panIIc-IInducIIng handle but II lo2t duplIIcate account prIIvIIlege2 becau2e II kept fakIIng IIdentIItIIe2 and orderIIng hooker2 and gettIIng the head of programmIIng IIn trouble  
BC: ha2htag worth IIt  
TA: no one type2 out ha2htag, how old even are you.  
BC: ha2htag 2alt  
TA: oh ii'm 2orry. wa2 that iin2en2iitiive. diid you lo2e your ha2htag priiviilege2 two.  
BC: ha2htag drownIIng IIn 2orrow  
BC: . . .  
BC: you're 2tIIll panIIckIIng  
BC: II could probably help IIf you relaxed enough to let me back IIn  
TA: 2TAY OUT OF MY HEAD  
BC: II'm 2orry II  
BC: that wa2 an IIll advII2ed 2ugge2tIIon  
BC: II  
BC: dIIdn't mean thII2 to go thII2 way  
BC: de2pIIte all evIIdence to the contrary  
BC: 2ocIIal conventIIon2 are dIIffIIcult for me  
TA: you whii2per iintwo my miind wiith whatever freaky fuckiing p2ychiic power let2 you do that, threaten to po22e22 me, make me get out of coon WAY EARLIIER than any 2elf re2pectiing adole2cent would ever, and then contact me iin 2tark fuch2iia wiith the handle battleshipCondescension  
TA: iin what uniiver2e doe2 that not cau2e a nervou2 breakdown??  
BC: II'm not u2ed to me22agIIng people who aren't part of the crew  
BC: crew reactIIon to my handle II2 u2ually along the lIIne2 of "IIf thII2 maIIntenance reque2t II2 another ploy to rIIcktroll me II'm re2IIgnIIng IIn dII2grace and curlIIng IInto the fetal po2IItIIon untIIl the 2weet 2weet mercy of death relea2e2 me from thII2 hell"  
BC: plea2e calm down.  
BC: IIf you get thII2 worked up over my handle II'm worrIIed about how you wIIll take anythIIng el2e II have to 2ay.  
TA: tell me why you're contactiing me.  
TA: iif you have a rea2on and thii2 ii2 really happeniing, rather than 2ome ma22ive 2elf aggrandiiziing delu2iion / halluciinatiion 2x funfe2t combo ii've made up for my2elf.  
BC: truth be told there are many rea2on2  
BC: II'm tryIIng to decIIde whIIch to 2tart wIIth  
BC: II don't 2uppo2e you'd take kIIndly to me 2endIIng you cool meme2?  
TA: ii am liiterally not goiing to open any fiile2 or lIInk2 you 2end me.  
BC: a bold claIIm from 2omeone wIIth me IIn theIIr head  
BC: waIIt  
BC: dammIIt 2cratch that  
BC: your pump bII2cuIIt'2 output ju2t 2pIIked agaIIn  
TA: GEE II WONDER WHY  
BC: II am not goIIng to tell you all of my rea2on2 for contactIIng you rIIght now  
BC: becau2e IIt would take hour2  
BC: and thII2 mIIght be 2omethIIng you need to be ea2ed into  
BC: 2o re2t a22ured II do IIn fact have 2hadowy ulterIIor motIIve2  
TA: giive me at lea2t one rea2on then.  
BC: II'll gIIve you the offIIcIIal one  
BC: the one that wIIll 2how up 2hould anyone on board attempt to acce22 the2e chat log2  
BC: you have a powerful p2ychIIc 2IIgnature  
BC: you're beIIng con2IIdered a2 a 2upplemental helm to the battle2hIIp conde2cen2IIon  
TA: over my dead fuckiing body.  
BC: lmfao  
BC: belIIeve me II don't want you IIn my 2y2tem2 eIIther but work wIIth me here  
TA: ok 2o what'2 the unoffiiciial rea2on.  
TA: iinb4 memery.  
BC: 2hort ver2IIon?  
BC: II'm your ance2tor  
TA: lol.  
TA: b2.  
TA: ju2t iin ca2e the quiirk made that hard to deciipher, "b2" mean2 bull2hiit.  
TA: actually let'2 make iit a capiital b.  
TA: Bull2hiit.  
BC: defIInIItely not bull2hIIt  
TA: ance2tor2 don't exii2t diip2hiit.  
TA: they're dumb fanta2iie2 that hiighblood2 jerk off two iin the ablutiion trap 2o they don't have to grapple wiith the meaniingle22ne22 of theiir exii2tence2.  
BC: yeah a2 cute a2 your nIIhIIlII2m II2 2tuff IIt  
BC: captor gemIInII penchant for two2  
BC: 2naggleteeth and double horn2  
TA: ok anyone wiith any kiind of fiile on me know2 tho2e thiing2, iit'2 not liike you're wowiing me wiith cla22iifiied iimperiial 2ecret2 here.  
TA: you have fuck know2 how much 2erver 2pace, you probably have the whole cen2u2 databa2e ju2t chiilliing at the back of your miind.  
BC: doe2 that not appeal at all?  
TA: what  
BC: don't you want to helm  
TA: no  
BC: not unle22 IIt'2 the rIIght per2on  
BC: II 2ee  
TA: wow FUCK OFF??  
BC: amazIIng how 2teadfa2tly my hellII2h gene2pawn II2 ma2tered IIn the fIIne art2 of 2howIIng no emotIIon or vulnerabIIlIIty  
BC: don't worry kIId  
BC: helmIIng II2 a deep and 2acred bond between two people  
BC: and when two troll2 want to fuck each other'2 lIIve2 up VERY MUCH...  
TA: liiterally fuck off forever.  
TA: never contact me agaiin 2tay out of my head ii'm done wiith whatever bull2hiit game thii2 ii2.  
TA: ii'm not goiing two 2iit here and lii2ten two you 2pout crap about how you're my ance2tor when we both know that'2 a dumb way two try two gaiin my tru2t becau2e ance2tor2 are a fiictiitiiou2 concept.  
TA: even iif ii had one they'd be dead by now and certaiinly not doiing  
TA: whatever thii2 thiing ii2.  
TA: whatever the hell you're doiing.  
\--battleshipCondescension [BC] has sent twinArmageddons [TA] the file 2upercla22IIfIIedlmfao.jpg--  
TA: what diid ii ju2t 2ay about openiing fiile2?  
BC: IIt'2 a fuckIIng jpg you tool  
BC: IIf II wa2 goIIng to de2troy your 2y2tem II could have and would have by now  
TA: tho2e 2ound liike the word2 of 2omeone tryiing to lull me iintwo a fal2e 2ense of 2ecuriity.  
BC: open the fIIle you fuckIIng dumba22  
BC: you want proof there'2 your proof  
\--twinArmageddons [TA] is offline!--  
BC: whoop2

You opened the file.

Like a dumbass.

It did not immediately destroy your husktop. It did not send a rain of hellish destruction down on your hive. It did not summon a fleet of Imperial drones to raze the stem to the ground and drag you out of the rubble. The file itself did not appear to do anything other than its intended purpose, which was to pull up a security cam image taken with a lens at least fifty sweeps out of date.

The picture is of a helmsblock. The tech itself doesn't unnerve you - you've learned a lot about bioware and psionic integration over the past few sweeps thanks to Empire schoolfeeding and your own research. You've never seen a helmed troll before, though, even with the layers of classified info you've managed to dig through. Images of helmsmen get purged from the internet pretty fucking quickly, so looking at one is fairly unnerving.

What's more unnerving is that it's _you_ , or for all intents and purposes it will be. The snaggleteeth, the horns, the luminescent eyes trapped behind goggles. The thin shoulders, arched back, bowed head. The tangle of wires sucking and leeching, a few thicker ones visibly disappearing into the body. It's just an image, but you can picture slow rattlebreaths and flashing and the wet inside of a tomb easily enough. You can taste humid, fungal air in the back of your throat, and a phantom pain flares above your hip where the thick nutrition tube snakes directly into the intestines.

You scatter rationality to the winds and run.

You are aware that this is a really, really bad idea, but your body has decided it's the only option, so you roll with it. You force shut down your computer (and half a dozen unsaved projects disappear into the void, rest in fucking pieces) because you can't quite bring yourself to smash it. Even holding down the power button makes you feel like you're desecrating a religious artifact.

Then you sweep all the freeze dried noodles and protein bars you have left into a bag, follow it up with a few clothes, check to be sure your lusus has enough honey to last him a few nights, and rocket the fuck out of your hivestem into the darkening evening. 

Nothing could possibly go wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "but i'm not manic" said the manic person, manically, while doing manic things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates two fics in one day?? updates fics in general??  
> don't get used to this my work ethic usually isn't this good

Foolproof plan, which you hatch over the hours it takes to fly to Aradia's hive: Head back to your hivestem when you run out of food, sneak in and let your lusus free, maybe try to keep your bees from dying, go to Karkat's place, get Karkat, drag him and Aradia onto a starship, strip the starship of its tracking devices and rocket off into the night without being seen, leave the galaxy and ignore the Empire forever.

Nothing could POSSIBLY go wrong.

You duck and roll as you hit the ground outside Aradia's hive. For some reason the grass smells like char, but you're too busy pulling yourself to your feet to focus on that, staggering to the hive and banging on the door.

Aradia opens it. "Sollux...?"

"We need to leave," you say, shouldering past her. Since you're not in your own hive, you make a more conscious effort to pull your psi back into your own body, but a few of her posters flutter to the ground regardless.

"What are you talking about?"

"We need to leave, we need to _go_ ," you say, "they're, the Empire, it's all fucked up and the wires and there's tech so no phones or pads but you need to pack up and we need to go, Karkat, gotta grab Karkat, when did the ship logs last update and do they run on a loop and how long would it take to get something decommissioned back into working order, Karkat, did you message Karkat? Of course you didn't message Karkat I just got here you need to tell Karkat we're coming, the ships, stay cagey about the reasons, just say we're going to visit and talk about it when we get there, have you messaged Karkat yet?"

Aradia rests a cold hand on your shoulder, which makes no sense, because she's always warm and it's not chilly enough in here to mess with her circulation. "Sollux."

"Have you messaged him yet? You should message him, it's - where - there's enough time, I mean the sun is the worst but if we wrap up in blankets and don't stare at it like dumbasses we won't die or anything and no one's gonna think we're traveling in daylight so we get an advantage, haha, I'm a genius, have you messaged Karkat yet?"

"Sollux."

"Why are you saying my name instead of pulling out your phone or sitting at your husktop, we're burning moonlight, can you please get up to speed already holy fucking shit we gotta move."

"Sollux. You're manic."

You flap your hand irritably at her and sit down at her husktop yourself, but you've been flying for a few hours so the sensation of not moving isn't going well. You get up and pace instead. The carpet smokes suspiciously under your feet.

"I'm not _manic_ ," you say, but what you intend as a snap comes out more like a wail. "Everything's just _going too fast_ , can you please sit down and message him, it's important, I can't sit down."

"Sollux." Aradia only repeats your name this many times when she's trying to soothe you. "Usually 'everything is going too fast' means you're manic."

"This is _important_."

"Okay." She rests her hands (cool, still cold, why is she cold?) on your cheeks. "Can you hear anyone we know?"

"Hear...?"

"Is anyone we know about to die?"

You scan the dull murmur of voices at the back of your pan, but nothing sticks out. If anyone you cared about was on the imminent end of a culling fork, you'd be able to tell. You're a hell of a lot more attuned to the voices of those you care about than those you don't, so after a moment you shake your head.

"Okay. Then you need to lie down."

"What, no, you're not listening to me, time is of the essence."

"Sollux. You're sparking. And overheating."

"I'm not overheating, you're just really cold, do you have a fever, you're not usually cold to me and I think you should check yourself out because if you're sick it's going to make it way more difficult to travel, hey, hey, do you need to rest? We can rest if you need to rest, if you're sick, I mean it's fine you can rest."

She tilts her head to the side, hands still firmly planted on your face. "Yes," she says. "I need to rest. I think you should too."

"It's okay, okay, really, I should stay up and use your husktop to draft better plans, it's fine."

"You're burning holes in my carpet."

You look down. You're not super connected to your body right now, so it's with a vague sense of surprise that you realize she's right. Little rivulets of red and blue keep running over your arms and curling down your legs, the fabric of the rug and wood of the floor ashy under your feet. A surge of dizziness makes you stumble, bracing yourself against the wall.

"Aradia," you say, trying not to pant.

"Yes?"

"I think I'm a little manic."

"You don't say."

The dizziness tugs at your pan again, makes the floor shift unevenly under your feet. "Oh my god," you say. "I don't feel well."

"That's because you're overheating." She takes your arm, wincing slightly - fuck, did you burn her? - and eases you down against the wall. "I'm going to get you some water, and then you're going to sleep. Stay here. Try not to set anything on fire."

Hmm. On second thought, sitting down is okay. It is so much easier to balance your ass on the ground than your feet. "No promises."

Hnn. You rest your forehead against your knees as she leaves, groaning. This is not good. You're on the precipice of an inconvenient crash, brought on by the strain of flying so far so fast without food, and you should get moving before you hit bottom. For you, mania is a roller coaster ride up followed by a freefall onto jagged rocks, and you can feel yourself teetering on the edge. You overdid it with your psionics, coming all the way here at breakneck speed without bothering to stop or eat, and you may be setting things on fire but is it so wrong to want to set them on fire on the way to get Karkat? Fuck, you don't feel well. The Battleship Condescension is in your head and very probably your ancestor unless it faked that photo, which come to think of it it probably could, but what would the point even be, what if none of this is real and it's some weird prank and you're freaking out over nothing -

Aradia didn't message Karkat. You gotta message Karkat. It's important to talk to Karkat. You drag your sorry ass across the floor and haul yourself into the husktop chair. Logging into your own Trollian account is a process with too many steps and too much lag when the world is spinning this fast, so you click on Karkat's icon while still tapped into Aradia's.

AA: hey kk  
AA: we need two leave 2oon 2o you 2hould get thiing2 twogether  
AA: iit'2 iimportant  
AA: aa'2 goiing two 2abotage thii2 whiile ii 2leep don't lii2ten two anythiing 2he 2ay2  
CG: WHAT  
CG: SOLLUX?

"What are you doing?"

"Messaging KK," you say.

"Okay, well. Why don't you come here and drink this water before you fry my husktop."

You head over to her and drink the glass of water. The carpet's smoking less, and you don't feel so much like you're going to implode, so that's a good sign. You should get back on the computer. You should explain this to Karkat. You should explain the situation to Aradia, too, you think you might have been talking too fast and skipping around your pan when you told her before. Did you mention the Battleship? You can't remember. Dammit, what did you tell her? She clearly does not understand the gravity of the situation, so you must not be making yourself heard.

Aradia takes the glass back when you're finished.

"You're going to sleep now," she says.

"I gotta talk to Karkat, though."

"You can talk to Karkat after you sleep. You're officially banned from technology until you stop sparking."

You're going to argue, but she's already herding you over to her coon, tugging your shirt over your head. The world at large is still swaying like you're holding your own on a ship deck in a storm, because your spatial awareness is shot, because you overdid it with your psionics. God dammit.

"I have stuff to do," you tell her.

"Mmhmm. When you wake up." She sort of body checks you into the slime, giving a gentle push with her own psionics to get you over the lip.

You sink into it without much protest, leaning against the rim. "I can't sleep like this, AA. I've got _stuff to do_. Stuff that's _important._ "

"I don't expect you to go to sleep immediately. But sopor is a good way to cool off, which you definitely need." She pats your head. "If you get out I'm going to hold your head under until you aspirate slime."

"Hot."

"Rest, Sollux. The sun will be up soon."

You slither deeper into the coon. "Nnn. Okay."

CG: ALRIGHT, SO EITHER TONIGHT IS "CAPTOR AND MEGIDO ADOPT EACH OTHER'S QUIRKS FOR THEIR OWN LONG HARD SHITS AND GIGGLES" NIGHT OR IT'S "CAPTOR WENT TO MEGIDO'S HIVE FOR SOME GODFORSAKEN REASON AND NOW IS HIJACKING HER HANDLE BECAUSE HE'S TOO FUCKING LAZY TO GO THROUGH ALL THE EFFORT OF CLICKING THE BUTTON TO LOG OUT, TYPING IN HIS OWN HANDLE, TYPING IN HIS PASSWORD, AND CLICKING "LOGIN."  
CG: MY BET IS ON THE SECOND BECAUSE HIS ACTUAL HANDLE IS OFFLINE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIVING MEMORY. IT'S LIKE I'M STARING INTO THE UNCANNY VALLEY. YOU KNOW IN MOVIES WHEN A TROLL STEPS INTO A BLOCK AND THE MUSIC PLAYS THIS SOFT DISSONANT CHORD AND YOU JUST *KNOW* THEY'RE ABOUT TO DIE EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVEN'T PINPOINTED THE EXACT REASON WHY?  
CG: AND THEN YOU REALIZE THERE'S A TINY DETAIL OUT OF PLACE, AN OPEN WINDOW OR A CRACK IN THE WALL OR A LOOSE VENT, AND UNDERNEATH THE DISSONANCE THERE'S THE SOFTEST SOUND OF BREATHING?  
CG: AND YOU KNOW WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A SHRINKING DOUBT THAT SOMEONE'S FROND IS ABOUT TO SHOOT OUT FROM THE SIDE OF THE SCREEN AND CULL THE HAPLESS PROTAGONIST'S ASS?  
CG: AND YOU WOULD KNOW THIS EVEN IF THE TITLE HADN'T MENTIONED IT IN GRAPHIC DETAIL?  
CG: THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.  
CG: SOLLUX IS OFFLINE, IT'S CLEARLY THE BEGINNING OF END TIMES. I'M PACKING EVERYTHING I OWN INTO A SACK AND WEARING IT SLUNG OVER MY SHOULDERS. NO FORCE ON ALTERNIA CAN GET ME TO PART WITH MY MOVIES, SO I GUESS I'M GOING TO FORGO FOOD SO THAT I DON'T HAVE TO SACRIFICE THE COLLECTION.  
CG: WHO NEEDS SUSTENANCE, HONESTLY. WILL THERE BE VIDEO PLAYING TECH WHERE WE'RE GOING? WELL, IF THERE'S NOT THEN WHAT'S THE POINT. WHY WOULD I EVER SUFFER THE INDIGNITY OF LIVING IN A WORLD WHERE I'M NOT ABLE TO INSTANTLY GRATIFY MY NEED TO INVEST MYSELF IN THE LIVES OF FICTIONAL PEOPLE BY POPPING A VIDEOGRUB INTO A DISPENSER?  
CG: ANYWAY, WHENEVER YOU GET DONE BEING IDLE, WHAT THE HELL.  
CG: I'LL TAKE AN EXPLANATION FROM SOLLUX OR ARADIA.  
CG: NO, THIS IS FINE.  
CG: I'LL JUST TWIDDLE MY THUMBS.  
CG: OH MY GOD.  
CG: WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS.  
AA: hi karkat!  
AA: it's aradia  
AA: sollux is fine and you are not going anywhere  
CG: OH, I SEE.  
CG: YOU'VE KILLED HIM AND STUFFED THE BODY IN THE HOLE FROM ONE OF YOUR ARCHAELOGICAL DIGS.  
CG: NO ONE SEES IT COMING.  
CG: EXCEPT ME, BECAUSE I'M A GENIUS.  
CG: I WAS WARNED, MEGIDO.  
CG: I WAS WARNED NOT TO LISTEN TO ANYTHING YOU SAY.  
AA: by a manic sollux who is currently in recuperacoon timeout yes  
CG: HAHAHA.  
CG: ALL RIGHT BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING AT YOUR HIVE.  
AA: an excellent question  
AA: i will find out when he's a little more lucid  
CG: IS THERE AN IMPENDING CRISIS?  
AA: it's... difficult to say  
AA: but he's not hearing anyone's voices  
AA: and the dead do not seem any more troubled than usual  
AA: so even if there is an impending crisis it's not so pressing that we can't wait!  
AA: i'll let you know what's going on when he wakes up  
CG: THANKS.  
CG: KICK HIS ASS WHEN HE WAKES UP.  
AA: aww  
AA: but it would mean so much more coming from you!  
\--carcinoGeneticist [CG] is now idle!--  
AA: checkmate


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sollux's tact is unmatched

Your sleep is long in coming, fitful and troubled. Worse than that, though, is the slow surface back to consciousness. You do not wake up. "Waking up" implies a certain level of awareness which you do not currently possess, because all of your pan's processing power has been allocated to the skull-shattering explosions behind your eyes.

Your body is the aftermath of an earthquake. Cracks and fissures along your bones, sparks and fires in your pan, all the hives crumbling into disorganized mess as the ground rocks with the aftershocks. Fuck. This is what you get for overdoing your psionics, and it's been at least two perigrees since you had one of these migraines. You can even rate them on a sliding scale, like that'll keep the following earthquake from doing so much damage.

You think you make a noise, but you can't hear much above the ringing in your ears, so whether it's a whimper or a scream is anyone's guess. Probably closer to a whimper, since you have just enough strength left to curl up and consider the merits of sinking under the sopor slime.

If you had any room in the squeezing pressure to think in language, and to translate that language into words, and to say those words loud enough for them to be understood, you'd call for Aradia. And it'll be completely fucking terrible later, when you're yellow to the ears with embarrassment and trying to pretend this never happened, but at least you have a troll you can be vulnerable with. Even Karkat - you're not sure you could stand to be this vulnerable with Karkat, but Aradia, Aradia's good. Warm. Safe. Not going to tear your throat out with her teeth.

"Ray," you try, and that's about as close to her name as you can get.

Which must be close enough, because there's suddenly a cool cloth being patted against your cheek, leaving behind relieving trails of dampness.

"Welcome back," she says, dryly amused. You're gonna fight her later.

"Hnn," you say.

"I know," she replies, swiping the cloth over the tip of your ear and stroking your hair with her free hand. "I know."

\---

Your sense of time warps, so you're not sure how long it's been when you finally regain the ability to speak. And move. You prioritize speaking first, because why get out of a 'coon when you could spend the next week or so marinating in your own sleepfilth?

"I'm in trouble," you say.

"Okay." She folds the cloth and lays it over your eyes. "Can you hear anyone we know?"

"Still no. Nnn."

"You've got a good moirail, kid," the Battleship says.

Your head snaps up so fast that your vision whites out for a few seconds. You half-keen your disapproval.

"Sollux?" Aradia's voice turns sharper. "Did you hear something?"

"Fuck, fucking hell, no. Not how you're thinking." You lay your head back down, temples throbbing. "It's here. God dammit."

"What's here?"

"The... the ghost," you say, since you couldn't explain it to save your life when you're in this much pain.

"The one who was bothering you?"

"Yeah."

The pad of a callused thumb rubs gently around one of your hornbeds. "Sollux," she says, back to gentle soothing sit-down-and-we'll-talk-about-this tones, "there aren't any ghosts in here right now."

Right. She's a necropath. Fuck your life.

"It's complicated," you say. "I'm not crazy. I promise."

"I know you aren't. Hush. What are you hearing?"

"It's making snide comments."

"About?"

"How hot you are. Oh wait that was just my own internal narration. Ayyy."

She swats you around the horns, and then goes back to rubbing when you make an appropriately chastened noise. "Do you know anything else about them?"

"It's..." You settle on an almost-truth. "A troll. I thought it was a ghost, but. It's not. It's communicating through... telepathy, I think, some weird psychic connection."

There's something ~*~deeply romantic~*~ about the way you sense her tense, even when the rhythm of her hands doesn't pause. In theory it means you two are meant to be together 5eva (dat means longa dan 4eva) and that you share a closer bond than a lot of palemates could ever hope to. In practice, you flick a handful of sopor in her face.

"I'm fine," you say, smearing slime over her cheek, hand mushed against her skin in the messiest pap of all time. "I'm good."

"Telepathy," she says. "That's how you two are having conversations?"

"It's not Serket."

"Okay."

"I don't even think she can... I mean, is she a telepath? Or just mind control?"

"Has this person controlled you at all?"

You pap her again. "Nope," you say. Probably not a good idea to mention the whole threat-of-possession thing right now. That can wait until you know more about what you're up against.

"Do you know who they are?"

"Uh."

"Sollux."

"You're not gonna like it."

"Well, _something_ scared you. Something big enough to trigger an episode like this. None of the possibilities I can think of are exactly the kind of people I'd like to invite over for tea."

"Not right now. Head hurts."

"Sollux, what kind of trouble are we in?"

We. She counts herself into your shit automatically, despite the number of times you've flaked on her or fucked up or been the wettest of blankets. The two of you are a team. It doesn't even occur to her that she should kick your ass out of her hive and tell you to solve your own problems. Something embarrassingly warm and fuzzy blooms in your chest before you remember to be serious.

"'Raydia. AA." You squint at her, eyes mostly closed since even the dim lights in here are too bright. She covers your hand with hers as you tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's not what you're thinking. Whatever you're thinking."

"My mind just keeps going back to out-of-line FLARP player. Whether it's one we know or not."

The Battleship decides now is a great time to cut in with a rusty, dry laugh. "She FLARPs?"

"Fuck off," you mumble.

"What?" Aradia asks.

"Not you. My fuck - fuckin'..." You hesitate. "Asshole pretend ghost buddy."

"You're not in any danger from me," it says. "Not in immediate danger, either. You will be in danger closer to Conscription. That was what I was trying to explain before you fucked into the void."

You grunt.

"And then locking me out with this migraine thing. Hell, kid. My head hurts enough without you doubling up on me."

So it can feel what you're feeling. Hmm. That's useful information.

"Oh my god. You're thinking about - why. Why are you so much like me, literally what did I do to deserve this."

"Get the hell out," you say. "I'm trying to have a serious conversation here."

"You aren't in any danger."

"Good to know. Fuck off."

The voice doesn't say anything else. After a minute or so of silence, Aradia touches your hair. "Sollux?"

"I think it's gone. Uh, okay. Fuck. I'm gonna tell you what happened, but it's going to come out a thousand times more melodramatic than it actually is, so you have to promise - promise you'll wait to freak until I can pap you for real, okay?"

She nods. "Okay."

You tell her. It takes a while, since you're trying to string the words together right so that you won't babble or scare her any more than you already have, both of your slime-covered hands roaming a path over her face and hair and shoulders. Petting, soothing, papping, like that can change the fact that you're basically delivering a death sentence.

"So," you finish, "if you want any semblance of a normal life, you should probably break up with me right now."

"Hmm." She twines her fingers through yours. "Do me a favor."

"Mmm?"

She presses a small, flat piece of metal into your hand. Wh - oh, it's her palmhusk.

"Log into your Trollian for me?"

"Nnnangh. Why."

"I want to see the messages."

Fair enough. At least that'll prove you aren't making this up, at least assuming the Battleship hasn't slithered its way into your communications and deleted everything. You tap in your login info, then pass the palmhusk back.

A disturbingly short amount of time passes before you hear her typing.

"AA," you say. "What are you doing."

She sinks down against the 'coon, using it as a back rest to prop herself up, which puts the palmhusk out of easy-snatching reach.

"I am having a very polite conversation with him."

"Oh my god," you say. Of course she is. Why did you think she was going to do anything else. "Oh no."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> at least aradia is competent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm going to keep chapters short and quick and hopefully that will keep me from being overwhelmed, which = faster updates, yay!

TA:  hello  
TA:  my name is aradia megido  
TA:  which i assume you already know from the delightful combination of your psychic powers and databases  
TA:  i would like a more nuanced explanation of what's happening  
TA:  consider me sollux's interpreter for the time being  
BC: IInterpreter huh  
BC: how 2o  
TA: well you see  
TA:  sollux likes to pretend that he thinks only in binary and beenary and that he's never had an emotion in his life  
TA:  but as i'm sure you've gathered he is completely full of shit  
TA:  this is me being the rational one between us and asking the questions he would be asking if his pan wasn't busy being on fire  
BC: alrIIght  
BC: faIIr  
BC: but II can't tell you everythIIng rIIght now eIIther  
BC: II want to keep thIIng2 on a need to know ba2II2 for now  
TA:  that's fine but as sollux's moirail there are some things in my need to know base that may not be in yours  
TA: for example  
TA: how are you communicating with him?  
BC: kIId'2 rIIght  
BC: telepathy  
TA:  how are you able to telepathically communicate over such a long distance?  
BC: our p2ychIIc 2IIgnature2 match exactly becau2e of the genetIIc bond  
BC: our thought2 are on the 2ame p2ychIIc wavelength  
TA:  so you can only telepathically communicate with people who match your psychic signature?  
BC: a2 far a2 II know rIIght now  
TA: that still doesn't account for the distance  
BC: you're forgettIIng a crucIIal detaIIl: tIIme  
BC: II've been alIIve for  
BC: II don't actually know how long becau2e my IInternal clock2 run IIn eta2 between de2tIInatIIon2 rather than lIInear tIIme  
BC: but IIt'2 been a whIIle  
BC: my power2 2trengthen and 2harpen wIIth 2aIId tIIme  
BC: II'm not about to que2tIIon thII2 newfound abIIlIIty  
BC: IIt'2 only been a theoretIIcal po22IIbIIlIIty IIn the pa2t but II've trIIed IIt wIIth all of my de2cendant2  
BC: 2ollux II2 the fIIr2t II've 2ucceeded wIIth  
TA: hmm  
TA: ok  
TA:  that sounds fake but ok  
TA:  you don't need to give me all of the details right now  
TA:  why are you contacting him?  
BC: II want to help hIIm  
TA: help him how?  
BC: II  
BC: fuck wow okay that 2ure II2 a  
BC: wow ow  
BC: motherfuck  
TA:  can you get around the coding block without tripping any alarms?  
BC: tell you what  
BC: II'll work on codIIng my way out of IIt  
BC: II apologIIze II dIIdn't realIIze 2afeguard2 would be 2uch a dIIrect IInconvenIIence  
BC: IIn the meantIIme plea2e contact terezII pyrope and tell her  
BC: error IInvalIId 2yntax  
BC: error blocked word(2) detected  
BC: motherFUCKer  
BC: ju2t copy and pa2te the chat god2 wIIllIIng 2he'2 2mart  
TA: terezi  
TA: what does terezi have to do with this  
BC: 2he'2 the be2t lead II can gIIve you rIIght now  
BC: IIf you don't want to 2peak to her that'2 fIIne  
BC: you have tIIme  
BC: no one wIIll be IIn actIIve danger untIIl con2crIIptIIon  
BC: II ju2t belIIeve IIt would be be2t to make your contIIngency plan2 before then  
TA: hmm  
TA:  i will be honest  
TA:  i don't trust you at all  
TA:  i have made mistakes in the past with trusting the wrong people  
TA: and i am going to try not to do that again  
TA:  you haven't told us anything we don't already know with regards to conscription  
TA:  sollux and i will probably both be helmed  
BC: unle22 you run  
TA:  unless we run yes  
TA:  but even if we did have plans to run  
TA:  i would certainly not relay them to the most powerful ship in the empire  
TA:  at least until he proved he was trustworthy  
BC: that'2 faIIr  
BC: were II you II wouldn't tru2t me eIIther  
TA: this does present a problem though  
TA: i would simply ask you to leave us alone so as not to overcomplicate things  
TA: but you're in sollux's head  
BC: thII2 II2 true  
TA: and i'm not sure how to convince you to leave him alone  
TA:  i'm also not sure your presence would automatically be a bad thing  
TA:  i know you will not think this threat holds much weight  
TA:  but i promise you that if you hurt him  
TA: i will turn your source code inside out  
TA: and make sure you're haunted by the ghosts of every planet you ever extinguished  
TA: until you choke on your own ruptured organs  
TA:  okay?  
BC: that'2 a lIIttle melodramatIIc  
TA:  and i mean every word  
BC: the unfortunate thIIng II2 II belIIeve you  
BC: but II'm not here to hurt hIIm  
BC: pIInky promII2e  
BC: you know IIf II 2tIIll had pIInkIIe2  
TA:  i still don't believe you  
TA:  but i appreciate you taking the time to speak with me  
TA: please leave sollux be for now  
TA:  his head hurts enough without the added stress  
TA:  i am going to talk to terezi  
TA:  and message either him or me once you've worked out how to speak freely  
TA:  i'd love to know about your ulterior motives sooner rather than later

You eventually gather the strength to slide out of the 'coon, but that expends all your energy, so you sprawl across AA's lap and nudge your head into her hands like a meowbeast. "Please tell me," you say, your voice coming out slurred, "that you didn't try to blow up its neurals. 'Cause I already did that. I dunno that it's gonna put up with that twice."

"I only threatened him a little bit." She pets your hair. "I'm not sure I got much useful information out of him, though. Only that apparently Terezi knows something about it."

"TZ?" You squint up at her. "That's weird?"

"Agreed. But worth pursuing, if only because it's odd that he would bring up her name specifically. He seemed to be having trouble overcoming system blocks to talk about his 'master plan'." She actually does the finger quotes, like a huge nerd.

"I don't think we should bring TZ into this," you say. "She's actually got a future come Conscription, unlike some people. Let's not fuck with her. If it's just building names of people to fuck up, I don't want to add hers to the list."

"Sollux," she says gently, "if he's looking for some reason to convict either of us of treason, then everyone we've ever spoken to is in danger. Regardless of their own feelings on the Empire. I'm not sure his presence has changed anything. Conscription is still as pressing a danger as it was, and we know as little as we did before. This is just a reminder that we need to be planning."

"I have the Battleship Condescension in my head," you say.

"And you hear the voices of the dying, and I communicate with spirits. Morbid as those things sound, they have yet to destroy us. Just be very careful."

"Literally everything I do is compromised now. On account. Of having. The Battleship Condescension. In my head."

AA shrugs. "Then I guess we'd better hope he's as benign as he says he is. I'm going to talk to Terezi."

"I think I messaged Karkat earlier."

"You did. I took care of it."

"How?"

She boops your nose. "Told him you're a raving lunatic, of course."

You reach up and pull her face down to yours. "You are the worst kind of person."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the battleship's identity is revealed but it's not super helpful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just. never believe me when i say i'm gonna update fics in a timely fashion. i'm a dirty liar 100% of the time

AA: terezi!  
AA: i am having a problem  
GC: >:?  
GC: OF WH4T S3V3R1TY 3X4CTLY??  
GC: 4R3 YOU C4LL1NG ON M3 4S YOUR GOSS1P BUD OR FUTUR3 L3G1SL4C3R4TOR??  
AA: good question!  
AA: when was the last time you talked to vriska?  
GC: ...F1V3 M1NUT3S 4GO  
AA: wow  
GC: 1 4M G3TT1NG H3R OUT OF MY SYST3M OK  
GC: 1TS 4 SLOW D3TOX  
AA: okay look if you still talk to vriska that's fine  
AA: far be it from me to judge  
AA: can you do me a favor though?  
GC: D3P3NDS ON TH3 F4VOR  
GC: 1F 1T H4S TO DO W1TH S3RK3T 1 PROB4BLY DONT W4NT TO B3 1NVOLV3D  
AA: it has nothing to do with her directly  
AA: can you just keep my confidence about what i'm going to share with you?  
AA: by which i mean don't tell her  
GC: OH  
GC: YOU S4Y TH4T L1K3 1 4M NOT 4LR34DY PR4CT1C1NG K33P1NG H1GH CL4SS 1MP3R14L S3CR3TS >;]  
GC: Y3S 1 C4N K33P YOUR CONF1D3NC3  
GC: 1S SOM3TH1NG WRONG??  
\--apocalypseArisen [AA] has sent gallowsCalibrator [GC] the file log.txt--  
GC: 4H!!  
GC: 1 S33!!  
GC: 1M COM1NG OV3R  
AA: you're what?  
GC: 1F YOU TH1NK 1M PUTT1NG 4NYTH1NG 1N WR1T1NG TH4T COULD M4K3 M3 LOOK 3V3N GU1LT13R TH4N H3 4LR34DY H4S YOU 4R3 SOR3LY M1ST4K3N  
GC: W3 T4LK 4BOUT TH1S 1N P3RSON  
GC: 1 KNOW TH3 COURTS  
AA: i don't even know what you're supposed to be guilty of  
GC: 4ND N31TH3R DO3S WHO3V3R 1S SCROUNG1NG TH1S B4CKLOG 1N TH3 FUTUR3 TO P1N CR1M3S ON M3  
GC: CONV3N13NTLY  
GC: 1 W1LL B3 OV3R TOMORROW  
AA: do you really have time to travel?  
GC: NON3 OF US H4V3 T1M3 FOR 4NYTH1NG  
GC: BUT W3 W1LL M4K3 T1M3  
AA: ...have you talked to him before?  
GC: NO QU3ST1ONS FROM TH3 COURT!!  
GC: W41T FOR M3 TO G3T TH3R3  
AA: sollux is here too  
GC: GOOD  
GC: K33P H1M TH3R3  
GC: 4R4D14?  
AA: hmm?  
GC: YOUR3 R1GHT NOT TO TRUST H1M  
GC: DONT L3T SOLLUX T4LK TO K4RK4T FOR NOW  
AA: ?  
GC: YOU C4N T4LK TO H1M  
GC: JUST NOT SOLLUX  
GC: H1S CONV3RS4T1ONS 4R3 COMPROM1S3D  
GC: 1 W1LL 3XPL41N 3V3RYTH1NG SOON  
\--gallowsCalibrator [GC] is offline!--

"Hey, Sollux?" Aradia asks as you return to her main block with an unwrapped protein bar. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah," you say, biting into the bar. "What is it?"

"Don't contact Karkat for a little while."

You swallow before you're done chewing, bits of food sliding and sticking painfully down your throat. "TZ thinks I'll put him in danger?"

"She just asked me to ask you not to contact him."

"Can you contact him?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. You'll just have to relay messages for me, then. It's fine."

"She's coming over tomorrow. Says she has things to explain. So if you could refrain from doing anything stupid for just the next twenty-four hours, that would be awesome."

"When have I ever done anything stupid, ever, in my entire life."

"You'll do something stupid and self-sacrificial if you think you're a liability," she says, firm, cutting through the general cloud of your bullshit. "It will accomplish absolutely nothing. In fact, it'll be counterproductive to everyone's safety. I do not want to have to stay awake constantly to be sure you don't run away or worse. So promise me now."

You tuck your legs under yourself as you sit on her reclining platform. The half of the bar you've eaten is a lead weight in your gut. A million fucking things to do and you're worse than an Empire bug - there goes your appetite. "I'm supposed to be working on how to get him past Conscription. I can't do that if everything I see, hear, _think_ is monitored. I don't know anyone else with the coding prowess - Zahhak's good mechanically, but I don't know if he has the connections - Serket probably has connections."

"Involving Vriska is the fastest way to guarantee Karkat dies," Aradia says sharply. "Just table your projects for twenty-four hours. Watch movies with me. We'll worry about the future when we know more about it. I am _begging_ you, Sollux. Just _once_. Once. Do not make any decisions for one night. You can't make atrocious decisions if you make no decisions."

"I won't act on any decisions," you concede. "I'll think about them quietly. And not do anything."

She heaves a dramatic sigh and plops beside you. "Good enough, I suppose. What should we watch first?"

"I have no idea," you say. "I'm not supposed to make decisions."

\---

Terezi enters the hive with her cane in hand and sharp red glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. For all her traveling, there's not a hair out of place and you can't smell a hint of sweat. At the very least, she didn't show up in her FLARP uniform, but you can practically taste the bravado and overconfidence. Whatever information she's sitting on, she's going to be as dramatic as possible about her delivery. Uuuuuughhhhhhhhhh.

"I'm not calling you Redglare," you say as she shrugs her jacket off.

"Way to take all the fun out of high treason!"

"Ah. So we _are_ committing high treason."

She leans against the door and grins. "I know you were going to hide Karkat. I also know that you were probably both going to try to escape being helmed. I know that at some point you were working with Zahhak to try to help Tavros, and I know you haven't told me any of this straight out to preserve the illusion of my innocence. I know you know I'm not an idiot, so let's practice some transparency. We're already up to our horns in high treason. It's just a lot bigger than you think."

"Bigger how?"

"Burning down the Empire big."

You snort. "We're eight."

"When was the last time you spoke to Feferi?" A pause, and she seems to take your slow blink as an answer. "Well, while you've been too busy being awkward around your ex and staging puny droplets of rebellion to notice, various people are up to various world-ending shenanigans. None of that is the actual point of me being here, though."

Aradia tilts her head. "You're allying yourself with an Heiress instead of the Empress?"

"I'm allying myself with my friend."

"Huh."

"Is that so shocking?"

"I just figured you'd make your future decisions based on... better odds."

"Don't confuse me with Serket. I might get offended." The grin doesn't waver, but there's just enough edge in TZ's voice to let you know this is a topic you don't want to poke with a stick. "The point is, I know things. Many things. Like, maybe even two whole things."

"Ayyy," you say. 

She gives you a fist bunp. It's awesome.

"So," you add, "is one of the two things the reason the Battleship is talking to me?"

"Well, yeah. He's the Psiioniic."

You stare blankly at her for a second, searching through your mind like you're running a data scan. Is that supposed to make any sense to you? A glance at Aradia reveals she's just as clueless as you, offering nothing more than a small shrug.

"No shit he's a psionic?" you say. "He's powering a ship?"

Terezi straightens up, a crease appearing between her brows. "Karkat never told you?"

"Told us what?"

"I assumed you - if he has you building an identity for him, how does he - did he honestly - that _idiot_. I'm gonna kill him. I'm personally gonna kill him, right now. Get to him before the Empire gets to him for being panrotted. Sorry to cut this conversation short, I have murders to do."

You swat her shoulder. It's definitely an exasperated swat, and not even remotely close to a pap or any other soothing gesture. "Or you could just tell us what's up. We've seen enough movies to circumvent this, TZ, c'mon. You can't walk out that door. You'll get eaten by a cholerbear without imparting vital exposition."

"Sit down," she says. "It might be a long story."

"Is it safe for me to know?"

"I'm not going to tell you anything the Battleship isn't already intimately familiar with."

"I'll make tea. I should be able to hear you from the nutrition block." Aradia bustles past you. Without much else to do, you sit on the reclining platform and pat the empty space on the other cushion.

"The Battleship is your ancestor, obviously. And the reason you didn't know that is because general knowledge of his existence is stricken from the record." Terezi settles and leans her head against the back of the couch, inhaling deeply. "Karkat had an ancestor, too. The Sufferer. He's kind of a big deal, but again, stricken from the record."

"Because he was a mutant."

"Because he started a revolution that nearly burned the planet to the ground, but yeah, the mutant thing didn't help."

You choke, and then, because you're an asshole, you start laughing. "Okay, now I know you're bullshitting me."

"I'm not. I am _trying_ to give you a history lesson, Mister Appleberry, and it will be over faster if you stop interrupting me!"

You poke her cheek. "Alternian History According to Terezi Pyrope should be an official schoolfeeding seminar."

"I agree! You guys get to be my test pupils. So, here. Eight thousand sweeps ago or so, this jadeblood - who I have reason to believe is Kanaya's ancestor - finds a mutant grub in the caverns and steals it instead of culling it. Fast forward, the mutant grub is a mutant adult who's taking issue with the way Alternia does justice. He's pretty sure the caste system is a steaming pile of hoofbeastshit, and he's not afraid to talk about it! He also thinks mindless slaughter is immoral, so instead of stabbing everyone he disagrees with, he talks at them instead."

"Alright, well. In fairness, if Karkat had an ancestor, that sounds pretty accurate."

"Precisely! Anyway, sweeps go by and he manages to avoid being culled. He also amasses a pretty huge following. His most devoted follower is a woman who records and paints all of his sermons. The texts refer to her as the Disciple - there's reason to believe she's Nepeta's ancestor - and she's... some sort of quadrantmate. Some translations call her his matesprit, some say they were pale, some say they vacillated - it doesn't matter, really. The point is that together, the two of them basically rewrote the rules of Alternian society. The mutant said he had visions of a world where nonviolence was the default for our species rather than the opposite, and he structured all of his beliefs based around that.

"Nonviolence is actually sort of threatening when everyone starts practicing it at once. The Signless was trying to end lowblood oppression, slavery, balance out the economy, destroy the meaning of the crown, and abolish the Following of the Mirthful Messiahs. Highbloods took issue with this, there was a war - the Psiioniic is always cited as being the biggest contributor to their war strategies. He was the fourth member of the Inner Circle - the other three being the jadeblood, the Disciple, and the Signless. He'd been enslaved for his entire life and the Signless convinced him to escape. Whether or not he was quadranted to any of them is muddy depending on the translation you read - that doesn't matter either.

"What does matter is that the revolution didn't work. They were outmatched. Their movement gathered enough speed and allies to tear the planet and a few of the outer colonies apart, but the Empress won. The Signless and the Disciple were meant to be executed together to cut down the leaders of the movement. Only the Signless died. The executor took pity on the Disciple and let her flee, and she wrote and painted everything she remembered while she was living in exile, which was the only reason any of the histories still survive.

"The Signless, meanwhile, was tortured into recanting. Supposedly something in him snapped and he gave this really epic speech about how the world is damned and we all deserve to burn, and also he'd have a descendant who would end the world to finish his work. What a drama queen. And then he died, and they gave him the posthumous title Sufferer. Most of his followers were systematically smoked out and executed. The Dolorosa was sold into slavery. And the Psiioniic..."

Your throat is dry. "Cut a deal?" you say. "Helmed for the Empress to avoid being executed?"

Terezi's mouth flattens into a grim line. "No. Helming was his punishment for heresy. The Empress wasn't going to waste his power. And in all the sweeps since it was built, there's no record of the Battleship Condescension having a helmsman change."

"Yellowbloods don't live that long."

"You know what Feferi can do."

You swipe your tongue over your lips. "You think she - the Empress - "

"That's my theory, yeah."

"How do you know all of this?"

"An underground cult sprang up around the Sufferer's teachings and his death. Redglare was a member."

"Your law-loving justice-crusading terror of a supposed ancestor was a doomsday cultist."

"I know how it sounds, okay? That's why I said it would be a long conversation. There's a lot that needs to be explained before it can be understood."

Aradia reenters the room with three mugs of tea balanced between her arms. She offers you one, lowers one to the table, and hands the last to TZ. "The Battleship is a slave."

"Yeah."

"That at least explains the desire to ally with us. Especially if Karkat is the Sufferer's descendant."

"Okay," you say, "but - and this is suspending my disbelief long enough to pretend this isn't all a load of hilarious made-up FLARP crap - that would make Karkat an apocalypse harbinger. Or at least, there's a cult of people who think he's an apocalypse harbinger."

"Yep."

"And he knows about it."

"Yep."

"And didn't tell me."

"Yep."

"Wow. I'm gonna kill him."

"Tabling the murder for a moment," AA says, patting first your hand and then TZ's, "I have a question."

"I figured you'd have a question. Several questions. Maybe even _two_ questions."

The corner of Aradia's mouth twitches upward. "If the Battleship Condescension is the Psiioniic, and the Psiioniic is anti-Empire, why should we be worried about trusting him? I know his communications may be monitored, but how much should we doubt his intentions?"

"Mmm. We've lost a lot of information over the sweeps. Most tales of the Sufferer are passed by word of mouth, so it's hard to tell what's accurate information and what isn't. The Inner Circle tends to be reduced to their archetypes. The Dolorosa, the lusus. The Sufferer, the revolutionary. The Disciple, the exiled heretic. The Psiioniic, the fighter. I know there has to be more to them than that, but even so..."

"It's even better to have the fighter on our side, isn't it?" you ask. "Theoretically. I mean, at least he's not gonna be asinine and wishy washy about blowing people the fuck up."

"Sollux." Terezi rubs her temples. "Think for a second. Just think. The Psiioniic tore the planet apart for the Sufferer, and that was operating under principles of _nonviolence_. What do you think the First Imperial Helmsman is going to do when faced with the Sufferer's descendant, thousands of sweeps of Empire panwashing and programming later?"

You stare from her to Aradia, her face a mirror expression of your horror as you put together the pieces. It doesn't matter if he's on your side or not. Best case scenario, he's a volatile troll who will throw all of that volatility away from you. Worst case scenario - well, it's nothing more than you've thought already. You're all dead.

"Oh my god," you groan. You're half expecting the Battleship to chime in with a convenient snide comment, but if he's listening, he's been curiously quiet. "Oh my god. We're so fucked."


End file.
